CVS to offer in-store mental health counseling

Barber shop owner Angela Miller always hears about clients’ family dysfunctions and financial struggles, but that’s especially been the case during the pandemic.

"You hear everything," she says. Lost jobs. Lost family. She says she can very much relate.

"My business had to shut down for about four months, and I wasn't really financially prepared for that," says Miller, who says she normally pays bills ahead of time.

Her entire family caught COVID-19 early in the pandemic, and Miller, a 50-year-old single mom living in Philadelphia, almost died. Being socially isolated also stirred up past childhood trauma, she says. So this year, she finally sought help.

But the first therapist she contacted didn't return her call for a month, only to tell her that the next available appointment would take another month.

"And I said, 'You need to change your practice because for somebody reaching out, they could be suicidal,' " she says.

Eventually, Miller connected with a therapist in an unorthodox place: her local CVS.

The company is leading the way in trying to fill gaps in access to mental health by piloting a counseling service in some of its retail stores. And by negotiating with insurance companies to cover visits, it's also trying to reduce the cost of mental health care.